Sunday, October 28, 2012

Wind and Solar are Worse than Coal

We are told we must replace coal
powered electricity with wind and solar, because of the “dangerous carbon
dioxide” produced when coal is burnt. But a bit of investigation shows that
carbon dioxide is a benefit to the biosphere, whereas wind and solar do real
damage to the environment and the economy.

James Hansen, an outspoken world climate alarmist
says: “Coal-fired power plants are factories of death”. The Australian Greens
want a fast end to coal mining in Australia, and support a swift expansion of
wind and solar power. As the Greens are part of the coalition which governs
Australia, the electricity industry is now being coerced by carbon taxes and
green subsidies and mandates to replace efficient and reliable coal-powered
electricity with costly and unreliable wind and solar plants.

All of this paranoia is driven by climatist claims
that carbon dioxide causes environmental harm by triggering dangerous global
warming. Let’s look at whether coal energy or green energy does more harm to
the environment.

There is absolutely no proof that carbon dioxide
causes any measurable changes to climate. In fact, the evidence indicates that
changes in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are a result, not a cause, of
variations in global temperatures.

Moreover, burning coal in clean modern power stations
has definite benefits for the biosphere – it puts food and drink for all life
back into the atmosphere. The major coal combustion products are – nitrogen
plant food from the air (69%), carbon dioxide plant food from the coal (21%)
and water vapour, the liquid for life, from the coal (7%). The other 3%
comprises mainly inert atmospheric gases from the air and an ash residue of
trace minerals from the coal. The green bogey-man, carbon dioxide, is the gas
of life and a free gift from coal combustion to the biosphere. More carbon
dioxide has proven benefits in making plants grow faster in good weather and
helping them survive better in droughts or frosts. More carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere is insurance for the biosphere no matter what climate change is in
store for us.

Green energy, however, can affect local climate and
does cause environmental damage.

Wind turbines work by extracting kinetic energy from
the wind. To extract significant energy in any particular location, there needs
to be an almost impenetrable thicket of these whirling scythes.

This has three adverse consequences - it changes the
local climate, takes a terrible toll on birds and bats, and the throbbing noise
pollutes the local environment.

A wall of wind turbines acts like a mini coastal range
– slowing the wind and making it rise over the obstacles. Whenever air rises
over a range, it cools and tends to drop its moisture as rain. As it goes down
the other side it tends to warm up, lowering its relative humidity. This is why
the apparently insignificant coastal range from Cooktown to Cooma is naturally
covered with thick scrub and the land in the rain shadow behind the coastal
range is dry. Wind towers inevitably have a similar effect on climate, creating
new rain shadows in the areas robbed of wind. The effect is magnified if
turbines are placed along the ridgeline.

How to increase the Height of the Wind & Rain Barrier – The Hallet
Wind Farm in South Australia 2012

To add to the environmental risk, some turbine motors
have caught fire in high winds, causing bushfires in this more vulnerable rain
shadow area.

Nothing like a good fire to clean up the Environment

Stand-alone solar farms also cause environmental
damage. Solar, like wind, is a very dilute form of energy that requires a huge
area of collectors to harvest significant energy. Green plants need that same
solar energy on their leaves to grow, but solar collectors shade the ground and
steal their energy, creating even greater deserts than wind towers. This is not
a problem in real deserts, but the massive populations needing electricity
seldom live near deserts – they flock to the warm green coasts. Solar panels on
roofs are expensive feel-good status symbols. They production seldom recovers
their real costs.

Peak production from solar panels in Australia occurs at noon.

Peak annual demand on the power grid occurs in mid-winter at 6.30pm, after
the sun goes down.

Therefore in winter, solar panels on roofs are about as much use as an
ashtray on a motorcycle.

In addition, both wind and solar need far bigger
networks of maintenance access roads, fire breaks and transmission lines than
coal. The existing environment is destroyed by dozers and graders and the
disturbed land is covered by roads and concrete, or re-colonised by aggressive
weeds.

Finally, both wind and solar farms produce zero or
negligible power for at least 60% of the time. Thus they need 100% backup to
avoid power failures. These backup facilities sterilise more land, and often
need to be on “spinning reserve” in order to be instantly ready when clouds
hide the sun or the wind fails at a time of peak demand. This additional
construction causes more environmental harm and massively increases the cost of
green electricity.

Wind Power means investing in Two Sets of Generators, with Two Land
Footprints, in order to guarantee the Same Supply

In this way both wind and solar energy affect far more
land per unit of energy generated than a compact coal mine and its nearby
linked power station.

Finally, what about gas? The carbon tax and the green
war on coal and carbon dioxide have artificially boosted gas in preference to
coal for generating electricity. This is generally a misallocation of
resources. Gas is a very useful carbon fuel, but is generally too valuable to
burn for generating electricity. It also needs to be gathered from a far bigger
area than coal, creating more surface disturbance for a network of wells,
pipelines, roads and waste water containment dams. In a sensible world,
industrial electricity would be generated mainly by low-cost hydro, geothermal,
coal or nuclear, with some gas for variable peak loads. Gas is more useful as
fuel for mobile equipment, it provides a cleaner transport fuel in cities than
petrol or diesel, and is invaluable for petrochemicals, fertilisers and
plastics. Gas is surely being wasted providing backup for the token wind and solar
plants being built.

They complained about the coal mine,

So we gave them 500 gas wells.

They complained about the gas wells,

So we gave them 5,000 wind turbines.

But then the wind failed, and their
lights went out,

And now they wish they had stuck with
the coal mine.

Viv Forbes

The conclusions are obvious – political force-feeding
of wind and solar energy does more harm to the natural environment than coal,
affects the local climate, hits consumers with unnecessary costs and threatens
industry with power failures.

Solar is sensible for domestic hot water, powering
small remote facilities and re-charging portable batteries. Wind power is
sometimes useful for pumping water and generating power in remote locations.
Consumers should be free to choose and pay for whatever energy they prefer, for
whatever reason. However, wind and solar both produce costly intermittent power
and should never be subsidised or mandated as a primary source of industrial
electricity.

Further Reading: James
Hansen, one of the world’s leading climate alarmists and leader of the war on
coal says: “Coal is the single greatest threat to civilisation and all life on
our planet. The trains carrying coal to power plants are death trains.
Coal-fired power plants are factories of death.” See:

Last weekend as blizzards swept across Europe,
and over three hundred people died, Russia's main gas-company, Gazprom, was
unable to meet demand. Did anyone even think of deploying our wind turbines to
make good the energy shortfall from Russia?

Of course not. We all know that windmills are a
self-indulgent and sanctimonious luxury whose purpose is to make us feel good.
Had Europe genuinely depended on green energy on Friday, by Sunday thousands
would be dead from frostbite and exposure, and the EU would have suffered an
economic body blow to match that of Japan's tsunami a year ago. See:

The only sustainable population of whooping cranes
in the wild is declining, concurrently with the invasion of their migration
route, the Central Flyway, by over 2,000 wind turbines and their power lines.
Nearly one hundred of these critically-endangered birds were lost this year.
See:

Peak production from solar panels in Australia
occurs at noon. Peak annual demand on the power grid occurs at 6.30pm in
mid-winter, after the sun goes down. Therefore solar panels contribute ZERO to
supplying peak demand. See:

The products of combustion of all carbon fuels
are normal and natural components of the atmosphere, and essential nutrients
for all life. This paper looks at the compositions of solid carbon fuels, the
process of coal combustion, the exhaust products produced, and the benefits and
pollution potential of those exhaust products. See: http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/coal-combustion.pdf

An increase of 300ppm in carbon dioxide levels
in the atmosphere (currently about 395ppm) would cause an increased growth in
food plants of about 40% and trees of about 70%. See:

CO2 is essential for life. More CO2 will do much
good and no harm. If it is allowed to increase at the current rate it will feed
the world’s coming peak population without needing more land, seed, cultivation
or water. For a beautifully illustrated article on the many benefits of carbon
dioxide for the all life see:

Viv Forbes understands rain shadows – he lives in one. He and his wife Judy
live on a farm just west of the coastal ranges, and spend most of their time
and energy there. They also have first-hand experience with the intermittent
power of windmills and solar pumps for pumping stock water, and have replaced
most of them on their property with reliable air pumps operating on compressed
air produced by coal-based mains power. They use solar chargers to run electric
fences (cattle and sheep sleep at night), and a solar panel on the bonnet of
one tractor to keep its battery charged. But for the heavy lifting like running
cities, trains, lifts, hospitals, factories and refineries, reliable
coal-powered mains electricity is needed.

Viv worked as a coal geologist for several years, helping to unravel the
climate history written in the rocks in the huge coal basins of Queensland. He
also explored for oil and gas and is still a non-executive director and
shareholder of a small coal exploration company (which incidentally will
benefit if high electricity costs in Australia drive our heavy industries to
China and India). He thus understands the Grand Carbon Cycle, from the ancient
carbon-rich atmospheres of the Permian and Jurassic Eras, to the massive
ancient forests, to the extensive coal seams, to the electricity generated as
that coal is burnt, to the welcome release of the ancient carbon dioxide back
into the atmosphere, rejuvenating today’s biosphere.

With a bit of luck and a lot of Carbon Sense, he believes we may help Earth
to return to the moist, verdant, warm, life-supporting environments that
prevailed when those great forests grew.

- discuss how to unravel and undo local council
regulations and revoke UN treaties;

- Discuss how to protect freedom and protect national
sovereignty in Australia.

This is part of global governance with total state ownership
compressing people into regulated zones after banning private property. It's
underway in western democracies at huge human and economic cost. It has already
removed some Australian residents' property rights. Horrified with
her findings, Amy and friends have formed the Alliance for Property
Rights.

Subject to numbers, attendees will receive a free copy
of Amy's book Wolves in Sheep's Clothing. It's a fine compilation of
writings exposing UN Agenda 21 and global governance destroying Australian
sovereignty and political systems.

Please forward this to interested friends
and join us in learning how to stop the UN's hidden Revolution by
Regulation.

Date and Time: Friday, November 2nd, 2012,
2:00pm. Followed by discussion for those interested. Theatre booked
until 5:00pm.

All Welcome. Price: $5 to cover cost of venue.
Students and pensioners: gold coin donation.

Killing the Earth to Save it.

For those interested in the man-made global warming
debate, a good book to read is: “Killing the Earth to Save it,” by James
Delingpole. There is a wealth of information revealed in the book and how we
are being conned.

The Last Word

Wind and solar can never change the way the sun shines
or the way the wind blows. Even if we discover or construct (at great cost),
massive electricity storage systems, these green energy options will always be
inferior in all ways to well-designed coal, gas, nuclear, hydro or geothermal
generators for industrial power supplies. It is thus sad in the extreme that
the energy policies of the alternative government are little better than the
policies that are failing so spectacularly in Europe.

Can you believe that the policy of Australia’s
alternative government supports “Action on Climate Change” including the
creation of a $2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund, additional funding for
one million solar homes by 2020, clean energy hubs, solar towns, solar schools,
geothermal projects, carbon farming, studies into algal synthesis and the
planting of 20 million trees? Their promises include:

•Spending over one billion dollars on
a “Solar Continent Policy”.

•A million Solar Roofs policy.

•$100 million for at least 25 Solar
Towns and 100 solar schools.

•$50 million to create a minimum of
25 new Geothermal Towns and Tidal Towns.

•Plus a new green army and massive
expansion of the green bureaucracy.

Looks like, no matter who you vote for, the Greens
win.

Authorised by:

Viv Forbes

Rosevale Qld
Australia

“Carbon
Sense” is a newsletter produced by the Carbon Sense Coalition, an Australian
based organisation which opposes waste of resources, opposes pollution, and
promotes the rational and sustainable use of carbon energy and carbon food.

6 comments:

Very inaccurate information, I am an Electrical Engineer and yes wind and solar have problems in implementation, but much of this infomation is unfair. Quote from article "Green plants need that same solar energy on their leaves to grow, but solar collectors shade the ground and steal their energy", Anual solar irradiation from the sun is 3,900,000 exajoules, global energy consumption is only 500 exajoules. As you can see there is alot of light for plants to grow

Solar will have to win! We do not need any government incentives, if you build your own solar panels for home heating out of recycled pop-cans and scrap metal, you can easily achieve extremely low price per watt($0.1 per watt). Detailed building instructions can be found at http://solar.freeonplate.com/diy-how-to/DIY-solar-panels.htm

Harmful effects of non-renewable sources on the environment are increasing with each passing day. So there is an urgent need of finding new ways to produce energy. Domestic wind turbine and solar operated devices are perfect example of that.